Wind power is considered one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources presently available, and wind turbines have gained increased attention in this regard. A modern wind turbine typically includes a tower, a generator, a gearbox, a nacelle, and a rotor having one or more rotor blades. The rotor blades transform wind energy into a mechanical rotational torque that drives one or more generators via the rotor. The generators are sometimes, but not always, rotationally coupled to the rotor through the gearbox. The gearbox steps up the inherently low rotational speed of the rotor for the generator to efficiently convert the rotational mechanical energy to electrical energy, which is fed into a utility grid via at least one electrical connection. Such configurations may also include power converters that are used to convert a frequency of generated electric power to a frequency substantially similar to a utility grid frequency.
A plurality of wind turbines are commonly used in conjunction with one another to generate electricity and are commonly referred to as a “wind farm.” Wind turbines on a wind farm typically include their own meteorological monitors that perform, for example, temperature, wind speed, wind direction, barometric pressure, and/or air density measurements. In addition, a separate meteorological mast or tower (“met mast”) having higher quality meteorological instruments that can provide more accurate measurements at one point in the farm is sometimes provided. The correlation of meteorological data with power output allows the empirical determination of a “power curve” for the individual wind turbines.
Traditionally, wind farms are controlled in a decentralized fashion to generate power such that each turbine is operated to maximize local energy output and to minimize impacts of local fatigue and extreme loads. To this end, each turbine includes a control module, which attempts to maximize power output of the turbine in the face of varying wind and grid conditions, while satisfying constraints like sub-system ratings and component loads.
In addition, many wind turbines of the wind farm have wake management control systems as well as separate wind farm noise control systems. Generally, wake management control modifies wind turbine control by lowering the tip speed ratio (TSR) while increasing pitch set points. In contrast, farm noise control aims to lower rotor speed and increase pitch set points in order to meet certain noise restrictions. Further, wake management control benefits occur essentially in variable speed operation, whereas noise control benefits occur mostly in rated speed operation. As such, there is an overlap where the two control systems compete for control of the wind turbine. This overlap generally happens near the transition from variable speed to rated speed, or potentially earlier if the site has an ambient dependent noise constraint. Thus, the wake management control systems and the noise control systems must operate separately and independently of each other.
In view of the aforementioned, a system and method for coordinating wake and noise control systems of a wind farm that would allow both systems to operate simultaneously would be advantageous.